The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (short form)

[robh@cyberspace.org (Robert Henderson)]

|>oug (nessus@mit.edu) writes:

>I think it would be completely appropriate for someone to post a one
>or two page description of the main tenets of Golden Dawn as it
>relates to the song "Lily".  Certainly hundreds of pages, or even
>dozens of pages would be out of place here, but a few pages would be
>an appropriate background for deeper understanding of the song.

Sadly, I don't know enough to feel competent about writing such.
If anyone else wants to, please do!  In the meantime, I grabbed a
brief intro to the Golden Dawn from the anonymous ftp files at
lysator.liu.se.  This should at least give the basics.  The Order
drew upon many earlier traditions, including Jewish mysticism,
Theosophy, Freemasonry, Christianity, Enochian magic, and so on.



                            The Golden Dawn

     (Taken from the Book "Secrets of a Witches Coven" by Morwyn)

     ...During the same time, ceremonial magic, which followed 
     the patterns of ficino, Mirandola, the Roscrucians, and the 
     Freemasons, was evolving.  Alphonse Louise Constant (1810-
     1875), better known by his nome de plume Eliphas Levi, was a 
     magician who borrowed from treatuses dating back to 
     Paracelsus.  Trained as a preist but never ordained, he 
     attempted to reconcile religeon, science, and mysticism in 
     his writings.  He proposed that the adept could receive 
     spiritual teachings from a high plane by tapping into what 
     he called the "astral light of divine power" by force of 
     will.  He was also the first to connect the twenty-two 
     trumps of the major Arcana of the tarot with the Qabalistic 
     Tree of Life.  Levi's influence on end-of-the-century 
     magicians was immense.  Some people believe that Aleister 
     Crowly was his reincarnation, since Crowley was born shortly 
     after Levi died.

     Levi's works, which have been translated by A.E. Waite, 
     reveal a highly imaginative interpretation of magic, so his 
     claims should be taken with a grain of salt.  Among Levi's 
     books are The Great Secret, This History of Magic, and The 
     Book of Splendors.

     Another magician who contributed to the enrichment of the 
     tarot was Gerard Encausse, better known as Papus.  Author of 
     the celebrated book The Tarot of the Bohemians, he became 
     chief of the order of the Rose-Croix, which was founded in 
     France as an hermetic organization.  Papus equated the Tarot 
     with the Bible and posited that an entire system of 
     metaphysical knowledge was contained within the cards that 
     sythesized the teachings of many cultures.  This view of the 
     Tarot is still held widely today, and magicians and Witches 
     meditate upon the cards to tap this knowledge, as well as 
     using tarot for divination.  Papus influenced the works of 
     Oswald Wirth, a key occult figure of the twentieth century.

     Both Levi and Papus fired the imaginationss of budding 
     occultists all over europe and America.  Here their 
     doctrines were disseminated by Albert Pike and Emma 
     Hardinge-Britten.  Englishmen inspired by Levi and Papus 
     include Francis Barret, whose book The Magus is a classic 
     work in the field, and Kennith Mackenzie.

     Mackenzie had a friend whom he had entrusted a cipher 
     manuscript for safe keeping.  Mackenzie died, his friend 
     died, and a clergyman friend of the friend discovered the 
     manuscript.  The clergyman in turn, passed on the manuscript 
     to Dr. Wynn Westcott, who, with the help of his friend, S.L. 
     MacGregor Mathers, deciphered it.  On the basis of these 
     papers and other researchers, the two men founded the Isis-
     Urania Temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 
     March 1888.

     Wynn Westcott (1848-1925) was a London coroner and friend of 
     Madame Helena P. Blavatsky, and the Christian mystic, Anna 
     Kingsford.  He had also read extensively the works of Levi 
     and the alchemists.  S.L. MacGregor Mathers (1854-1918), a 
     London commercial clerk, was a friend of Westcott's and 
     shared his absorption in the occult.  He studied Egyptology 
     and other magical systems, including most of those touched 
     upon in this brief history, and sythesized them with the 
     Mackenzie manuscript into the basic tenets of their new 
     occult fraternity.  For awhile the leaders claimed to have 
     received their teachings and permission to found a new order 
     from German Rosicurcian adept named Anna Sprengel.  But 
     these allegations proved false.  The rites and rituals of 
     the Golden Dawn owe their genesis to the geniuses of 
     Westcott and Mathers.

     Various  branches were established in London, Paris, and 
     Edinburgh.  However these organizations were plequed with 
     internal disputes and the Order eventually dissolved.  Some 
     believe that the disintegration occured because the 
     initiates did not take care to protect themselves 
     sufficiently from the powerful influences they invoked.  
     According to Gareth Knight, Gerald Yorke, an author who 
     wrote a history of the order declared that the protective 
     training that failed to be assimilated by the initiates was:

     "the assumption that man has fallen from a condition of 
     orinal grace which can only be remedied by a re-orientation 
     of the will, in repentance and reconciliation, with God.  
     Although lip service was given to this in certain teachings 
     of the Golden Dawn there was unfortunately, a general and 
     stronger tacit assumption that members of the Order were 
     somewhat superior to the rest of the human race, and by 
     virtue of secret ceremonies, knowledge and practices could 
     elevate themselves to be considerably more superior."

     The importance of the Golden Dawn, besides teaching by 
     example this lesson in human nature, is that the Order 
     inspired many twentieth century occultists and thus played a 
     significant role in the magical evolution of the present 
     occult revival.  Interest in the teachings of the Golden 
     Dawn has never flagged.
-- 
RobH (or Rob Henderson, if you prefer) / robh@grex.cyberspace.org
She gotta dance, and she just can't stop 'till them shoes come off. (Kate Bush)
Oh no, giant grasshoppers are attacking... the Beatles!  (MST3K)